James Leo Motley comes from nowhere to try to take over the prostitute Elaine Mardell's life. He is muscular and wiry, with eyes that display his hatred for women, and with a knowledge of pressure points by which to inflict pain on a human body. He preys on people because he can. Elaine Mardell tries not to let a life of prostitution grind her down, and she saves her money to buy real estate for a secure financial future. Matt Scudder considers her a friend although he has not seen her for years and at first fails to recognize her code name, Cousin Frances. None of Motley's other victims are close to Scudder and the reader gets to know none of them as individual beings: They exist in the novel to be killed. Scudder sends the women he feels close to out of town. He feels some closeness...